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PAGE 4 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE December 13, 1985
The Southern Israelite
The Weekly Newspaper Fcx Southern Jewry
Since 1925
Vida Goldgar
Editor and Publisher
Leonard Goldstein
Advertising Director
Luna Levy
Associate Editor
Eschol A. Harrell
Production Manager
Lutz Baum
Business Manager
Published every Friday by The Southern Israelite, Inc.
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Getting the message
Two stories in this week’s issue bring just a ray of hope that the rest of
the world is beginning to understand what Israel has been saying all
along.
Even with obvious shortcomings, the United Nations vote this week
unanimously condemning terrorism “by whomever committed” is a step
in the right direction.
The day after the vote, Secretary of State George Shultz let our West
European allies know in no uncertain terms that until the PLO accepts
U.N. Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 and acknowledges
Israel’s right to exist, the terrorist organization does not deserve
concessions.
But for those who continue to think that Yasir Arafat and his cohorts
have changed their spots, that is wishful thinking.
When Arafat said in Cairo recently that the PLO would limit its
terrorist attacks to “the occupied Arab lands,” Egyptian President
Mubarak hailed this as a renunciation of terror and a sign that he was
extending a hand for peace.
Now first of all, if that is read as Mubarak apparently chose to
interpret it, it means no more than that Arafat considers that it is perfectly
all right to murder and maim civilians just as long as they live on the West
Bank.
However, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC),
which keeps tabs on such things, notes that Arafat, as recently as Nov. 15,
was reported on Radio Monte Carlo as saying: "It is not responsible to
announce that we will confine our operations to the West Bank. . .
military operations are not excluded from Israeli territory.”
He even praised the “daring” Egyptian soldier who murdered seven
Israeli tourists.
If there are signs of movement toward peace in those statements, they
are well hidden.
As AIPAC said: “The ‘Cairo Declaration’ was just another attempt by
Arafat to put a new face on the same policy. Yasir Arafat remains the
kingpin of PLO terror.”
We hope that message is getting across.
Vida Goldgar
Eating Jewish
Rabbis and other Jewish educators are fond of
making the point that eating Jewish does not make a Jew.
I couldn’t agree more. Eating a bagel or a corned beef
sandwich (without mayo) just doesn’t
take the place of reading a Jewish
book or poring over the meaning
of theTorah portion, giving tsedaka,
lighting Shabbat candles or whatever.
Now, having agreed with that,
I’ll do a Tevya “on the other hand.”
What is Hanuka without latkes?
As the holiday began last week,
I feared that a latke-less Hanuka
would be my fate.
Now everybody knows there’s no such thing as stir
ring up a couple of potato pancakes. Heaping platters
are to be enjoyed with family and friends. Before the
invention of food processors, we often grated our
knuckles along with the potatoes and onions. I managed
to force at least one or two onto the plates of those of
my misguided children who didn’t fully appreciate
these golden brown delights. Later, I got much
pleasure from watching granddaughters Jennifer and
Lori devour them and ask for more. Now that they live
in Birmingham, there seemed no real reason to stir up
a batch of latkes.
Besides, the first two nights of Hanuka were
scheduled for community dinners. Saturday night was
the annual ADL event, followed on Sunday night by
the Hebrew Academy’s dinner. There were Hanuka
candles lighted at both events, but, though the meals
were delicious, nary a latke was to be found.
By Monday night I couldn’t take it. My mouth was
watering for latkes. Long since having discovered that
packaged latke mixes aren’t half bad if you’re tired or
in a hurry, I popped open a box, added the required
ingredients, heated the old cast-iron skillet that works
better than all my modern Teflon, and voila—latkes.
Naturally, since these would be my only latkes of
the holiday (I thought) I stuffed myself, savoring every
bite. Let the calories fall where they may.
Foolish thought. When I checked my calendar 1
found that on Thursday evening there is a dinner
meeting featuring latkes. Immediately following, the
AJCC board meeting is to start with—what else—latkes.
Sunday, friends have invited me to a post-Hanuka
party with, of course, latkes.
Still, too many latkes are betterthan none. After all,
it’s my Hanuka duty.
Their New Year’s Eve, ours
by Rabbi Emanuel Feldman
Spirilual leader, Congregation Beth Jacob
The annual rash of synagogue-
sponsored New Year’s Eve parties,
dances, set-ups, smorgasbords, noise
makers and funny hats which sprout
up around the country every Jan. 1
in American synagogues of all kinds
and styles—Orthodox, Conservative,
Reform, Ashkenazi, Sephardi—
somehow call to mind, ironically,
that statement in the alenu prayer
which is recited thrice daily and is a
focal point of Rosh Hashana and
Yom Kippur: “shelo asanu k'goyei
ha’aratzos. . . Who has not made
us like the nations of the earth. . .
nor our destiny like that of their
multitudes.” Ironic, because
American synagogues, in their New
Year’s Eve activities, are unwittingly
transforming into hollowness this
resounding declaration of Jewish
distinctiveness.
I have long felt that Jews know
the secret of how best to welcome
in a new year: with prayer, atonement,
solemnity; with a retrospective and
sobering look at the past year; and
with a hopeful, prayerful vision for
the coming year. Boozing and wining
and dining and all-night parties
somehow do not fit into all this.
Yes, there are Jews who are awake
all night on Rosh Hashana. They
read psalms, study the Bible, meditate,
make an effort to return to G-d,
and attune their souls to the great
and awesome day of judgment which
is Rosh Hashana. The sound of the
shofar, reminiscent of the Binding
of Isaac and of the Revelation at
Sinai, is an awesome sound (Hay it aka
shofar ha-ir. . . can a shofar
sound in the city and the people
not tremble?”) and a far cry from
the blare of tin horns and all-you-
can-eat.
We Jews know how to bring in a
new year. But it is characteristic of
the nations that historically they
ushered in a new season with pagan
revels and orgies, of which the
modern New Year’s Eve parties,
with their drinking and carousing,
are a tribal vestige.
What an individual does on his
own is, of course, his own business.
But it seems to me that synagogues
which sponsor New Year’s Eve
affairs, with all the attendant un-
Jewish accoutrement and parapher
nalia, are remiss in their obligation
to march to the beat of a different
drummer. To be ensnared in the
run-of-the-mill ordinariness of
common parties is to fall considerably
short of the sacred mission of a
Jewish house of G-d and to add
another dim chapter to the records
of Vulgariana Judaica Americana.
It is a long, dark and winding
road from the shofar of Rosh
Hashana to the set-ups and funny
hats of New Year’s Eve. But some
institutions make the trip in the
short time between Rosh Hashana
and Jan. 1.
Halley’s ‘Jewish angle’
by Hugh Orgel
TEL AVIV (JTA)—It was inevit
able that someone would find the
Jewish angle in Halley’s comet,
now making its appearance in our
skies.
It wasn’t discovered by Edmond
Halley, the British astronomer-
explorer and colleague of Isaac
Newton 200 years ago—even though
he established that the comets which
had appeared in 1531, 1607 and
1682 were one and the same and
predicted it was to appear again 76
years later, in 1758, when it was
given Halley’s name—even though
he did not live to see its predicted
reappearance.
A comet which appears every 70
years is mentioned in the Talmud.
The Jewish angle was mentioned
by Rabbi Zvi Ilani oft he religious-
oriented Bar-Ilan University in Ramat
Ganduringan Israel Radio program
last week on the comet.
The Talmud’s Seder Nezikin,
section Horayoth, page (Daf) II,
tells that Rabban Gamliel, on a
journey to Rome in the year 95,
was accompanied by Rabbi Yehoshua
Ben Hananya, sailing in a ship
which was beset by storms and
went off course owning to faulty
navigation.
Gamliel had taken only bread
with him, but Yehoshua had also
taken a reserve supply of flour,
which he shared with his companion
when Gamliel’s bread ran out because
of the delays.
“Did you know that we should
be so much delayed that you brought
flour with you?” the Talmud quotes
Gamliel asking. Yehoshua replied:
“A certain star rises once in 70
years and leads the sailors astray,
and I suspected it might rise and
lead us astray.”
Mubarak: PLO can’t be ignoredn
WASHINGTON (JTA)—“The PLO is the sole representative
of the Palestinians, whether we like it or not,” said Egyptian
resident Hosm Mubarak in an interview with The Washington
ost published Dec. 9. He said the United States should not try to
wea en the strength of the PLO, saying, “Trying to solve the
pro em and, at the same time trying to ignore the PLO—this will
never lead to a comprehensive peace.”
. ■ ,^| U ^ ra ^ a * so P ra ' se d Israeli Prime Minster Shimon Peres for
Vh.s flexibility” on a number of issues. J